be a people of extravagant love
“Let love be genuine.” (Romans 12:9a)
To say that love must be genuine demands consideration of the opportunity for the allowance of disingenuous love. At the risk of stating the obvious, it must be known that the Church is not to participate in disingenuous displays of love; instead, Paul, in continuation of his description of spiritual worship, instructed the congregation to make room for a genuine and tangible expression of love—love as it should be. And, it should also be noted, as seen through the following verses, that such a love cannot be achieved without the offering of self as a living sacrifice to God for the benefit of others. Genuine love, then, is the functional display of our worship fitting with Christ’s command that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31b). But, again, if we are to understand worship as being the act of loving others, then we are to more emphatically require that such a love be genuine. Because of his love for the lost and those buried under the darkness of mountains of legalism, Paul appealed to the congregants in Rome to sacrificially worship in humble unity shining as a contrast to surrounding cultures for the sake of proclaiming the gospel—and, this is all achieved through the act of genuine love.
Despite the Church’s general acceptance and parroting of the secular advice to “fake it until you make it,” genuine love must be demanded amongst the followers of Christ; this is, clearly, not a demand that can be placed upon those who are unwilling to bear His name, but for those who claim to be His the command is unquestionable: “you shall love…” is a commanding call to genuine love. Christians do not fake the act of love because such secular understandings of love exclude self-sacrifice, compassionate servitude, and thorough humility. Paul, instead, instructed the church to purge all secular notions of emotional love and instead allow the transformative power of the Spirit to guide us into the command to love with all sincerity.
Furthering such a notion, Paul immediately followed the instruction to love with a description of love’s practical application.
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)
Again, secular conceptions of love are intertwined with tolerance and unrestricted affirmation; and, yet, the command to love was immediately followed by the command to hate. Paul told the Romans that they were to hate what is opposed to God, hate what is at war with the will of God, to “abhor what is evil.” In passages to follow, Paul highlighted examples of what were described as matters of opinion with this list including the manner in which Sabbath and cleanliness laws are practiced, dietary regiments, and the consumption of alcohol. These matters of opinion (and presumably others like them) were not to become divisive for believers; however, there are still matters which are to be known as being evil. Love does not create discord over debatable opinions, but love also does not look the other way when evil is involved. Because of the pursuit of genuine love, for the sake of Godly love, Christians are to hate all things that separate humanity from God. And, this must be applied personally just as much as it is corporately.
The Christian life undergoing the sanctification of the Spirit does not tolerate or delight in the presence of evil; each, having tasted the goodness of Christ, rejects for themselves the abhorrent offerings of Madam Folly while likewise, because of the demand for genuine love, despising the defiling influence of evil over the lives of others. In short, it is not loving to affirm the act of drinking from the cup of death. Instead, we are to cling to what is “good.”
Again, the worldly understanding of what is good has become a vast spectrum of questionable activities; but, Paul, throughout this passage, lengthened his definitions with increasing specificity. To have Genuine Love is to hate what is evil and instead cling to what is good; and, what is Good is defined as living with brotherly affection and outdoing each other in showing honor.
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10)
Again, the diversity within the first century Roman church must be properly noted. While there is clearly a large population of traditional and Scripturally educated Jews within the congregation, seated beside them are also newly converted Roman gentiles. These two populations came from drastically differing cultures. For the sake of risking being repetitive, church potlucks in the first century likely included a mixture of kosher entrees placed next to slabs of roasted pork. The first century church was not a community that assimilated to pre-exiting cultures nor did it tolerate the practices of differing cultures—rather, the Church was to dispose of previous ways and instead take up the culture of the Kingdom of God: a graced-filled sanctuary of believers whose love is deep and genuine.
With that understood, we must today hear the radical nature of connecting genuine love for each other with brotherly affection; Paul was instructing this diverse group of believers to genuinely love one another with familial familiarity and concern; within the Kingdom of God, there is no more national, tribal, or cultural divide—we are family and we share in the culture of Christ: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28).
Furthermore, while the application of genuine love may be obvious for brothers and sisters within the faith, it may also be presumed that it likewise applies even to those outside of the Church. For this argument, one need only to be reminded of Paul’s appeal for evangelism toward the legalistic Jewish community—they are enemies of the Gospel, but our hearts should long for them to be re-grafted in to the community of saints. Early on, the Church quickly grew in reputation throughout the Roman Empire as being a community that loved fiercely by showing a sincere concern for the welfare of others with a devoted willingness to sacrifice self. This is the Gospel culture that spurred the revolutionary wildfire that we call the first century church revival.
Continuing the trajectory of the passage, Paul did not allow the definition showing honor to be misinterpreted. To outdo each other in showing honor implied taking on an attitude of a humble servant, but Paul combined it with the sentiments of familial affection. Paul called the Church to be zealous, fervent, serving, rejoicing, patient, prayerful, generous, showing hospitality, a people who bless all, compassionate people who celebrate and grieve with others, harmonious, humble, non-retaliating, peaceful and peacemaking, trusting in the justice of God, and a people who bless our enemies. Furthermore, by referencing Proverbs, it may be right to assume that he was leading the Church to also be those who know the Word and live according to its wisdom.
“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:11-21)
Today, such experiences are rarely experienced within families and are generally unheard of within church communities. While it may be common to find someone who cares about another’s hurts and feels sympathetic to their struggles, it is rare to find a Christian who weeps in distressed anguish with the hurting or willingly joins the grieving in the pit of despair. It is even difficult to find believers who truly rejoice and celebrate at the announcement of another’s victories; commonplace kind responses may be given with a smile, but rarely do we truly dance with joy for triumphs of which we have no involvement. Truthfully, the expression of sympathy and condolences or the passing announcement of congratulations is not the Biblical example of genuine love. Genuine love zealously and fervently seeks to serve and bless through generous hospitality with heartfelt compassion. Throughout his letter to the church in Rome, Paul called the saints to a kingdom life that stands in direct opposition to the ways of the world for the purpose of becoming an evangelistic blessing and testimony. And, at the center of it all is an identity marked—scorched—by the Gospel of Christ and a life lived in genuine love for others.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)